The ISTEP+ results have been looked at by officials at all schools in our area and Knox Community School Superintendent said there were some positive points and areas that need to be worked on.
“There were some good points and some points that need to be looked at,” explained Gappa. “In the elementary school, the average in both Language Arts and Math were in the upper nineties – the high point being the fifth grade Math with over 90 percent. The middle school had a little bit lower results and those will be checked out and we’ll report to the board at the next meeting.”
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dan Foster explained that the students at his corporation did well on the test.
“We had about 82 percent of all of our students passing both sections of the English/Language Arts and Math, which is about nine or ten points higher than the state average,” said Foster. “I still question the folks that are saying the interruptions didn’t do anything to the test-takers. You still can’t convince me that that didn’t play into some factor, but overall we’re still pretty pleased with our scores.”
West Central School Superintendent noted that the elementary scores were above state average while the middle school students struggled a little.
“Overall, corporation-wide, we had a 3.3 percent increase, but you definitely have to break that down to building-to-building, grade level-to-grade level and then student-to-student because we still need to determine the reasoning behind every student not showing gains – in some cases particular grade levels not showing gains,” noted Mellon.
The Knox Community, Eastern Pulaski and West Central School Boards will receive a more in-depth analysis of scores during their next regularly scheduled board meetings.
